I'm still here

So, it's been a while since I've posted a blog in English here, and since my friends in England has been asking for some updates (except the odd Facebook status/picture) I'll give you an update here on my blog. The last post on my blog was in Norwegian, and the translate button is not always very good, so most of the text was not possible to read for English readers.
So here we go:

Tilbake til skulebenken

Sjølv om eg studerte medan eg var i Afrika, så blir dette ganske anleis. Utmarksforvaltning på Evenstad var neste stopp etter 10 mnd i Zambia.

Home

After a 2 hours flight to Johannesburg, a day shopping at Woodmead (outlet), a 11 hours flight to London, before a 2 hours flight to Oslo. I spent one night in the Norwegian capital and then I took a bus to Vangsnes (8 hours). There I got picked up by one of my cousins. So 4 days and 12 hours after I went to Lusaka Airport I arrived my beloved hometown Fresvik.

Last few days...

The last two blog posts were written in Norwegian for the purpose of making sure I was understood correctly, so there would be no misunderstandings. Firstly I wrote about my friend Anja who I’ve shared “my” Lusaka with, and the second was a look-back at the 10 months here in Zambia as a sport volunteer, and what’s been good and bad.

Snart slutt

Eit nytt innlegg på norsk, ettersom eg vil fortelje litt om korleis det har vore dei siste 10 månadane og uttrykke meg på ein så korrekt måte som mogeleg. Eg har vore idrettsfrivillig i Zambia gjennom Idrettens Fredskorps (NIF og Fredskorpset, med økonomisk støtte av NORAD) og reiser heimover fredag 6.juni. Det har vore eit år med mange opplevelsar og mykje lærdom.

A day in Mazabuka

After the schools opened two weeks ago I’ve been a lot busier, working as a sport volunteer for NIF and ZAAA, it’s been good, but it’s a shame I’m leaving so soon. Today, Saturday, 24 May 2014, I went to Mazabuka, which is “the sweetest city in Zambia” ‘cause of their sugarcane farming. I was sent there with the 06:30 bus to observe a Kids Athletics competition, you might ask me why I was sent there to observe and not organize, but that is because we don’t always trust it’s done properly...

Norwegian Constitution Day Celebration in Lusaka, Zambia, AFRICA!

Sunday May 18th

Yesterday, Saturday May 17^th, it was exactly 200 years since the Constitution was written in Eidsvold, Norway. Every year we celebrate in our own Norwegian way, which contains of a parade for adults and children, a band playing Norwegians songs (during the parade), singing the Norwegian anthem, eating Norwegian food, playing games, eating ice cream, adults having a glass of champagne for breakfast, and speeches. This year I’m spent the Norwegian National Day in Lusaka, but if you think it would be completely different, then you are sort of wrong!

Blogginnlegg på (ny)norsk

Sundag 11/5-14

Det har vore lite med blogging den siste tida, og det er forskjellige grunnar til det. For litt over to veker sia fekk eg besøk frå Gudmor Sissel som kom flygande heilt frå Oslo. Ho hadde med seg mykje snadder frå Noreg, bl.a. brunost, bringebærsylte, honning, makrell i tomat, leverpostei, sjokolade og ikkje minst grovbrød! Delar av dette er blitt konsumert av fleire nordmenn i Lusaka den siste tida.

Birthday in Zambia

The day I turned 26 years old, I was on my own on Lake Malawi in a kayak, so my host family told me we had to celebrate my birthday when I came back. And we did so this weekend. 

Picture, pictures and more pictures. Not in order, sorry.

Hello there! Picture from Cape Maclear, with my lunch

4/4-2014 Fulfilling my dream

Today, on my 26^th birthday I had booked a kayak for the day, so Piet (father of the owner of my lodge) made me some lunch I could bring and refilled my 5 bottles of water. Just after 8 o’clock in the morning I headed out on Lake Malawi, and this time I was paddling towards Tambo Island (google it!).

First few days in Cape Maclear

Internet

The internet is really unstable and I only have access once or twice a day, which makes it very hard to post anything on my blog. It’s unbelievable slow, but it’s good to be unreachable as well, it makes this holiday more relaxing (even though it’s unbearable not to know the football results now that the Norwegian Premiership has started!)

A bus ride to Paradise

In Lusaka

Thursday morning I walked to Intercity Bus Station in Lusaka, the bus to Malawi was leaving at 12:30 so I was told. At 11 o’clock I left home, and it took me about half an hour to walk & find my yellow big bus. When I entered I saw about 10-15 other passengers, a few white youths. There were a lot of people going on the bus, but they all carried stuff they wanted to sell, and during 30 minutes I wrote down everything I saw. Here is the list: Underwear, Cologne, Perfume, Cell Phones, Drinks, Biscuits, Toys, Balls, Shavers, Batteries, Phone Chargers, CD’s, Talk Time (Phone credit), Chips/Crisps, DVDs, Bags, Books, Chitenge, Cloths/Towels, Socks, Belts, Watches, Caps/Hats, Pecks (klesklyper), Sausages, Sandwiches, Purses, Sweets/Candy, Wallets, Gum, Lollipops, Hair Accessories (headbands, clips, hairspray, hairbrushes etc), Headphones, Fruits, Skirts, Shirts, Baby shoes, Sunglasses, Memory cards, Flip flops, Speakers, Radio, Hair dryer, Ice Cream. Yes, that was everything I saw in 30 minutes! Then I fell asleep, but only to be awaken by a guy who asked for money.

Wednesday, Preparations for Malawi trip

Recently I’ve been very excited about my Malawi trip which will happen tomorrow, where I will celebrate my 26^th birthday. So today I had planned:

• Go to the gym, freeze my membership,
• Go to the office,
• Head to bus station to buy a bus ticket to Lilongwe,
• Mail a letter to Norway,
•  Exchange local money into US dollars which they use in Malawi.

So after a great last workout (for a while) I paid my 50 Kwatcha which froze my membership for 2 weeks, at the office I met my Norwegian buddy Pelle, who works here in Zambia with his family. Then I told my colleagues I would go and buy a bus ticket, "Fine" they said. It was about 11:30 and I decided to not eat my lunch until I arrived back from town.

I walked/jogged to Intercity Bus Station and got a ticket to Malawi, 200 Kwatcha, 12 hours bus trip, (supposable) starting at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon.  Then I walked in the hot weather to the post office in the city centre. I could have walked to a local post office, but I also wanted to check our post box. If I don’t check the mail myself, it won’t get checked (I noticed this last week, when I got letters that was 2-3 months old).

When I had waited about 10-15 minutes a guy arrived his desk, and it took him about 2 minutes to check our post box, there was a letter from Laanekassen (saying they will handle my complain at  a meeting the 27^th of January, dated January the 15th). Then there was also a slip which I could exchange into a parcel at another desk. I was surprised and pleased, because my mother sent ha package to me for my host family (Christmas stuff) two months ago but I thought this was lost. Therefore I believed it would be my mothers parcel that had arrived. When I showed the slip to the friendly lady behind desk 12, she told me the parcel was at another post office, at Freedom Way. I went straight to where she had explained it was. When I arrived, it was 12:40, and was told they had their lunch break until 2 o’clock. So... I was starting to get hungry and decided to have lunch in the city centre and come back when the lunch break was over. I went to a local restaurant across the street where they serve nshima. All the locals eat this food, mainly ‘cause it’s cheap and it taste good (nshima is corn meal mixed with water, tasteless)

When I ordered nshima, chicken and a big water I got a funny look, and when she told the chef, he actually stuck his head out and smiled at me. Obviously they didn’t get many white customers. When I got the food the lady asked me if I wanted knife and fork, and I gave her a “are you crazy”-look. I laughed and said no thanks. She asked if I was going to eat with my hands, and I answered yes, and told her I was “Zambian”.  She asked for my name and I said it was βube (my Zambian name meaning "Gift"), she also asked for my last name, and after some hesitation I said Mpondela (which is my host-family’s last name). She thought I was born and raised here, but I told her I wasn’t. During my Zambian lunch I got a lot of looks and smiles from the locals at the restaurant. I had a great time. My lunch didn’t cost more than 20 Kwatcha (less than £2/$3). So if you are in Zambia, you should defently try eating out at a very local restaurant.

I changed my Zambian Kwatcha into US dollars, which they also use as well as Malawian Kwatcha in our neighbouring country to the east. Then finally I got my parcel, it was from my host family in the States! They sent this Christmas-package the 14^th of December last year, and it just arrived, even with a tracking number. Fantastic! I got a t-shirt and chocolate, which I have shared with my colleague’s. Now I am back in the office, a bit sweaty after the hot weather and all the walking/running, but I feel good. Tonight I will be packing and getting ready for my Malawian trip. Hopefully they will have WiFi there, so I can share another blog post.

Since I’ve got a smart phone now, I also have the Instagram app, where you can see the pictures I take here in Africa. (Username: PatoBotun, SOME PICTURES ON THIS LINK:http://instagram.com/patobotun/)

Picture from January, unshaved from holiday

Unshaved and hair down, 10th of February

Shaved and showered, 17th of March

My "normal" hair, 19th of March

Present from USA!!! Today!

Monday 17/3

Internet connection in Zambia is horrible at the moment. No internet at work, internet-cafès or other offices. I wrote this post on Monday (yesterday) and posting it the moment I get internet connection.

Official opening of Kids’ Athletics
Since January I’ve been working with a program called Kids’ Athletics, and even though it’s been running for a while, we had the official opening at OYDC (Olympic Youth Development Center) last Friday (14/3). The First Lady (The Presidents Wife) is our ambassador, so she was there as well as representatives from IAAF (International Athletic Association Foundation), the Sport Council, the main sponsor Nestlé and  100 participating kids (+ a lot more in the crowd).

The show started at 9 AM, but I was there at 7:40 AM with a few others to do the last bit of preparations. Just before (!) 9 o’clock the music band started playing, the dance club started dancing and a lot of kids were ready. About 9:15 the VIP arrived. First, there were speeches and music with dances, afterwards we had the demonstration of the Kids’ Athletics Program. I must say, it was “organized chaos”! And I’m glad it didn’t last for too long. Afterwards, when the First Lady held a speech I went up, just a couple of meters away from her, and took a few pictures. I was just about taking a “selfie” with her in the background when one of her bodyguards came to me and told me I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of her. I walked away and suddenly another bodyguard approached me with a serious face, saying he wants to see the pictures I just took. “Sure” I said and showed him. I then asked him if I had to delete them, but he doesn’t answer, just grab my phone and delete all of them (the President of ZAAA, Mr Mpondela, my boss was very upset when he heard this). Later when the dance group performed another dance and approached her to invite her to take part 3 bodyguards jumps in front of the First Lady. But Ms Sata (First Lady) is quite cool, so she told the guards to back off, and she joined.

Other than that not much exciting happened at the official opening (it was covered by the news and showed on ZNBC that evening), except that at least two girls passed out when they ran the 1500m. It was a bit scary, but thankfully we had the red cross/ambulance there, so they got taken care of.

Baking Day
On Sunday (16/3) me and Anja (my neighbour) made “rundstykker” and “bollar”, which are very Norwegian. The “rundstykker” was very healthy, made of muesli, all sorts of seeds, butter, some flour, milk and egg. Delicious! But the Zambians doesn’t like these “rye-buns” so we also made “bollar” which are a lot more sweet and unhealthy for our host families. We put some “nugatti” (chocolate spreading), and jam and brown cheese on them. My family loved it! They didn’t even believe me and Anja had been making them, because the “bollar” was so good. I think they enjoyed the chocolate spreading the most though. It took forever to make these “rundstykker” and “bollar” but we had plenty of time, so we played cards and Yatzy while waiting for the oven to do it’s magic.

Great fun and a good way of killing time on a quiet Sunday after a morning workout.

Mail
My Norwegian family sent me a package about 8 weeks ago, and it still hasn’t arrived, so I’ve been asking for it lately, but just last week I found out that my office can’t find their key to the post box. So we need a police report as well as paying K40 (£4) for new keys, therefore I expect this will take more time. Last time my office checked their post box was in December so there is not ideal to send me any mail since I’m going back to Norway in less than 12 weeks (IT’S GETTING CLOSE).  

Washing clothes Since our washing machine broke down last week I've been doing the laundry myself. It's not like pressing a button on a machine at home. Good "fun"

 

A week in Lusaka

It's been a week since I came back from Tanzania, and I've been at the office all days except Saturday. That day I went to OYDC and Fredskorpset made a short interview and filmed me in action. Even though I didn't have much to do, so we did some acting. 

Today I wrote a poem about the marathon I participated in Moshi:

The Marathon

In February I saw a letter about a Marathon run
I thought: “That will challenging and fun”
The 42k race was only 4 weeks ahead
“That’s impossible to achieve” some people said

I started training with much effort and passion
My beard grew and I looked really out of fashion
It was four weeks with lots of running and hard work
Running with my beard and headband I must have looked like a dork

I got a lot of advice from my brother
My family had faith in me, even my mother
The time flew, and soon I was on my way
I travelled with plane so I would be ready for the big day

In Moshi, Tanzania, it was humid and hot
A German said: “Run in 3h30m you will not!”
Even though the run was extremely long
I wanted to prove him wrong

I got up 3 hours before the start
And I think that was pretty smart
I was rested and eager to do well
The start was fast I have to tell

Half way through the race I felt fine
But then, it felt like I stepped on a landmine
The hills approached fast
I was suddenly afraid to finish last

But I told myself I could do it
I had trained for this so I knew I was fit
The last 10k was downhill
The crowd made it a thrill

Into the stadium I finished strong
I did proved the German wrong
I was so out of breath
That I was close to my death

Got a medal and a bottle of water
Thank you I said to the pretty daughter
I am still tired after digging so deep
Don’t even dare to wake me up, I’m deep asleep

Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. Awsome picture!

Kilimanjaro Marathon

Friday and Saturday

I landed at Kilimanjaro Airport at 9:30 after less than 4 hours in the air and 5 hours at airports. I booked a taxi and went straight to my hotel, where I checked in and unpacked. The two days before the marathon was all about rest and drink water, so I went to the supermarket and bought a case (12 bottles) containing 18 litre of water. I strolled the town and got convinced to buy some souvenir for 8000 schilling when he wanted 30 000 to start with (I didn’t have more than 8000!).

I used Friday and Saturday well, very well. Everything went perfect. The first night I got about 12 hours sleep, which was the most important night (two nights before the race). I also met some Norwegian sport volunteers here in Moshi. It was really cool to talk to them. And on Saturday when I registered I met some Germans, we started chatting and the guy had done several marathons before, he was fit and had even the same Suunto Ambit watch as me. When I told him I was aiming for 3h30min he doubted and said he couldn’t run that fast in New York in November, and in this heat and in the hills here it would be “impossible” for a first-timer. He had planned to run the full marathon, but after he noticed how warm it was here, he changed it to half-marathon.

The night before the marathon I got very little sleep, but I wasn’t worried. I got up at 3:40 to eat breakfast (oats, milk, raisins and banana) before eating a banana at 4:40. The next hour I did some mental training. I’ve read a book called “Face your fear and do it anyway” which explains a lot about positive self-talk, and I used that in the morning (and during the race). At 5:45 I jogged/walked to Moshi Stadium. Warmed up for about 20-30 minutes and stood on the starting line.

The Kilimanjaro Marathon, 42.195 km
At 6:30 AM the gun went off and everyone sprinted out the stadium, hundreds of people ran past me, and I looked at my heart rate monitor and saw we ran at a pace of 3:30-3:45 min pr km. Way too fast. So I chilled and let them pass. After 2 km I started outrun one after another. I kept a brilliant pace and didn’t worry about people sprinting past me, because I caught up with them sooner or later.

There were a lot of local people on the side of the roads, and they cheered for me, I smiled and applauded them back, which made them cheer even more. I smiled a lot on the first 20 km and that was much because of the awesome crowd. I had also written my name on my front and back of my shirt, so people were saying “Come on Ruben”, “Well done Ruben”, “Keep it going Ruben” which encouraged me a lot. Brilliant tip from some of my former PT-clients in the UK. At the turning point (almost 11km) I noticed that I didn't have any white people in front of me, and that gave me more motivation as well! I saw Norwegians running behind me and we encouraged each other (“Heia Norge!”)

At 10 km I looked at my watch and I had ran for 39 minutes (in May I ran a 10 km in just under 40 min, and now I had a faster pace and still had 32.2 km to go! I must have done a lot of things right the past month!). At the 20 km mark it had been 1 hour and 20 minutes since we started! I was flying and felt good! But then  the hills came, and I hit "the wall". It was tough, but I was prepared for it, and just had to slow my pace for a while. So I slowed down, to about 5:30-6 min per km. It was still an OK pace. At about 24-25 km a white guy ran past me, I tried to keep up, but I just couldn’t do it, my goal before the run was to be the best non-African runner, but there he ran away. The people on the roads disappeared and it was tough, but according to the route description it would start to be flat at the 28-29 km mark, so I kept going. At the water station on the top there was a guy drinking beer while holding out a cup of water, and I went for the beer. He laughed but didn’t give me his can. Instead I kept going, and downhill I increased the pace to about 4 min 30sec per km. I was catching up with a lot of people who ran the half marathon and they were shouting: “Well done Ruben!” I loved it. The last 10 km I looked at my watch and saw that I could do this really well, but I almost hyper ventilated when I thought about running in less than 3 hours 30 min. I kept going, and at 1 km left I ran and passed more people from the full marathon.

At all the water stations I poured one cup of water over my neck, and drank one, but about 25km into the run I noticed I had gotten a lot of blisters around my waist, after the rubbing of my underwear/basketball shorts, so it sting like hell when I poured water on myself, but before every station I tend to forget those things. What was funny as well was that I always increased speed through the water stations. I don’t know why, maybe I was concerned about losing time, or maybe it was the music/cheering/people? I don’t know.

At the stadium, which was packed with people we came in and ran the last 100-150m there, I gave everything, I ran absolute the fastest I’ve run for a long time. My watch says 25km/h and I have to tell you, the roar and excitement from the crowd was priceless. They were ecstatic when I past 3 half-marathon runners and one full-marathon runner on the last 100 meters. It was an incredible feeling, but, wow, I was tired when I went to the grass on the field. I looked at my watch, and my unofficial time is 3 hours 8 minutes and 29 seconds, other details are: 42.5 km, average speed: 13.5km (fastest: 25.7km), average of 4 min 26 sec per km, decent: 480m (ascent: the same), heart rate: average: 143, max 156, kcal burned: 2236, recovery time: 71 hours.

I was ruined, my legs didn’t work, and after sitting on the grass for a bit I got up like an old man. I could barely walk. I spent some time drinking water and reflect on the run. My first marathon ever and I did it very well. My medal will be around my neck for a few days now J

I’m back at the hotel, waiting for a towel so I can shower and rest, rest, rest and rest!

Thanks for reading!

Pictures will hopefully come

This upcoming weekend

Countdown Clocks

Kilimanjaro Marathon!

3 weeks ago I saw a letter at our office about Kilimanjaro Marathon, and since I didn’t have much to do that day I googled the event, and shortly after I had read that is was a yearly marathon that was happening in Moshi, just at the bottom of Kilimanjaro (in Tanzania). I thought: “I’ve had ‘To run a marathon’ on my bucket list for a long time, maybe I should do this one?” so the following day I booked hotel, flights and paid the fee for running (got it covered by IL Modig, my club in Fresvik!).

I’ve never run a race further than 10km, so this was something new for me, and even though I didn’t really have money for it (still have to live in Zambia for 4 more months without a lot of income) I made the decision to do it. I started running the very same day I booked everything. And since then, 25 days ago, I’ve been running a lot. I stop lifting weights and ran instead, on the treadmill, in the compounds, at the running track.

I haven’t been running a race since May 2013 when I ran 10km Bupa Charity Run in the city centre of London (awesome to run, and I collected over £200 for children in Aylesbury).  So my fitness level wasn’t great (imagine after 2 months on holiday around Africa for Christmas!) therefore it was a lot of work (running) ahead of me, before the marathon on 2^nd of March.

Week by week
The first week I ran in total of 84km, mostly short runs every day
The second week I ran 106km, which was 5 days of intervals and long runs and 2 days rest
The third week I only ran 74km, 2 days rest and some intervals and long runs, but my legs, joints muscles was aching, so I took it chill.
This is the fourth week, about 40km, and I will run more on Tuesday, Wednesday, and even Thursday, so guess I will get another 30km before I start resting for the Marathon on Sunday.

It’s been a lot of fun training for this event, since I suddenly had something to focus on and look forward to.

Goal
My initial goal was to finish the marathon in 4 hours 20 minutes, but then I “improved” my goal with 20 minutes (to finish within 4 hours).

During my training I’ve consulted with my brothers back home in Norway, who are some of the best runners in their age-group in Norway. So it was natural for me to listen to their advice. I have to thank them for advice and support

Last year
I’ve been looking at the result lists from previous years (Kili Marathon) and the best runners are all from either Kenya or Tanzania. Here are some of the numbers:

• ·         239 participants
• ·         Best European was a Frenchman who ran it in 3h18m25s
• ·         Average last year was 4h6m
• ·         No Norwegians participated
• ·         Best Scandinavian (Danish) ran in at the time of 4h33m16s
• ·         Best time was Kipkemoi (Kenya) at the time of 2h14m58s
• ·         On the top 14 there was 13 Kenyans and 1 Tanzanian

The "wall"
Have you seen the british movie called “Fatman”? It’s an English comedy about a unfit guy who runs a marathon to win over his lost love. In his marathon he meets “the wall” which a lot of people talk about when they run marathons. The “wall” is when your body runs out of carbohydrates to burn, and switches to fat, and all runners get this after 1-2 hours of running. I’m hoping to be ready for this mental challenge and jog through it. What is important is not to push too hard, since you don’t want to get lactic acid when you’re only half way.

How I’m getting there
I’m taking a taxi to the airport on Thursday at 22:00, and my flight to Nairobi is at 24:15 and takes about 3.5 hours. I will fly from Nairobi to Moshi (which only takes an hours) at 8:30. So I will arrive Friday morning and therefore I will have entire Friday and Saturday to relax and check out Moshi/Kilimanjaro. The race starts at 06:30 on Sunday.

Guess my finishing time
If you haven’t guessed my time on Facebook then you can do so in the comment area at the bottom of the page. So far 33 has guessed, and the average is 4h15m29s. Median: 4h22m30s

More on: http://kilimarathontraining.blogspot.com/

Mkushi!

Work in rural Zambia

Last week I was told to get to Mkushi (North of Lusaka) to observe a Kids’ Athletics workshop. Finally! The plan was that I was going to take a bus on Monday afternoon, stay the night at a lodge, attend workshop before heading back home to Lusaka either in the evening or Wednesday morning.

On Monday the bus was leaving Lusaka at 14.00 and my colleagues told me it would take about 5-6 hours. It’s a long journey. When I asked my contact in Mkushi, she said I would arrive around 18, maybe even 17. It’ll go fast she said. I didn’t believe her, I’ve been too long in Africa to know that nothing goes fast here.

I got in the bus around 13.20, and it was almost packed already. At 13.50 a priest came and prayed for us. A bit after 14 we took off. Even though it took about 5.5 hours it felt faster. I enjoyed it.

When I got to Mkushi my contact, Lina, found me and escorted me to my lodge. For K150 (170kr) it was quite decent. Fridge, TV (one channel), freezer, bathtub, toilet and a bed was more than I hoped for. I was dead tired and went to bed (but some bed bugs and mosquitoes kept me awake for a while.

Tuesday

After a morning run and a big English Breakfast at the lodge I went to the school were the workshop were being held. I came early to help prepare. At 9.00 only a few of the 25 invited had showed up. We waited 40 minutes before we started with an opening prayer. 9 had showed up by now. The 10^th participant came at 10:20, and the 13^th (and last one) came at 13:30.

The workshop is designed (by ZAAA) to last two days, but the workshop facilitator tried to squeeze it into 1 day. It was hectic, but it was OK. I was there to observe, but had to step in and lecture at times. 

Some of the participants were attending only for the reason of lunch money, K50 (when a lunch cost K15-K20) and the certificate. I lost a lot of respect for a lot of them when I realized that. The workshop finished at 16.00 as planned, and while the participants eating biscuits, drinking soda and holding their “well-earned” certificate, everyone was happy. After everyone was gone I briefed Lina, the facilitator, on how it had gone and I gave her some advice what to do differently next time.

Then we waited about an hour for our taxi driver which took us to a gas station where I would wait for a bus to Lusaka. When I got to the bus station it was 17:40, and I was told the bus would arrive maybe at 19, or 20, or maybe 21 or 22. SO… I sat down and read. I’m getting used to this waiting, and it’s not much I can do about it. But I know I will appreciate the time-management when I get back to Europe.

I had nshima w/ chicken for dinner, local style. Being the only white man I got a bit of attention and I talked to a lot of travellers stopping by to get something to eat. There was one guy who knew a lot about the peace corps and the last I saw of hime was drinking a beer before driving off on his motorbike..., and another guy who was very nice, considering he barely spoke any English. He didn’t know any Nyanja either, he was Bemba (like most people in this area). In the end he asked for money for food. I gave him K10, and he walked away without buying any food. To be honest I wasn’t surprised

At 21.30 the bus finally arrived! I asked for a seat and the bus driver said there was space, so I bought a ticket for K100. But when I went inside there was no seats available, and I could see 4 adults and 5 kids in the back row (5 seats). Then the bus driver shouted to me, waving me to the front of the bus. He gave me a pillow and told me to sit next to him. So I did. 1.5 meters away from the massive front window, without any back support. This was so awesome! I loved it! It was full moon and very little traffic. But when we were driving at full throttle in the fog or passing trucks I was a little scared.  

On the bus

Ready for 5.5 hours on the road!

Had a little stop. Look at the guys posing!

My bed at the lodge, used the mozquito net when I heard the mozzies

Lack of sleep made me drink coffee

This is how it looks like in Mkushi. You see the lady by her house?

The rainseason makes the roads bad

Lots of grass, not much else

Corn

Workshop

Spelling is not great, but rules are important!

Started

Lina shows different exercises

Demonstration outside

Their school. Nice tree in the middle

This is the gas station where I spent 4 hours of my life at

Decent view eh?! 

Didn't sleep for a second. But great view!

Runaway Saturday 15/2-14

This morning, Saturday 15/2, I got up around 8 AM, got dressed and ate my porridge/oatmeal. I was heading to OYDC to work out (hence the title) when I met my young neighbour showing off his newly captured grasshopper (picture below). He also asked for my bike and some money, as usual.

I walked to Kabwe Roundabout, only stopping by the post office (as I usually do on Saturdays nowadays). When I got to the bus stop there was an empty bus waiting for me, after jumping in I started reading the book I brought, and I had read for about 20 minutes before the bus was full and we started off our short journey. It took about another 20 minutes before I got to OYDC.  Since I had my iPod earphones plugged in, I didn’t talk much (Norwegian style baby!)

At the field the track-and-field team was training, and most of them knew me from before. They asked me to join, but I had my own program to do. After a few laps warming up I ran 4x4 minutes, an interval exercise I’ve known for years (and is supposed to be very efficient for stamina). I noticed that my endurance is not as good as it used to be, but that is as expected. After the runs I laid down and did some stretches and core work (planks, mountain climbers etc) and suddenly I had a bunch of kids (between 5-16 year olds) with me (they didn’t run after/with me, since the track-and-field team was running training). Before my lunch break I took some photos and asked them random stuff (like what do they want to be, and the answers I got was everything from bus driver to pilot). I sat in the stands and ate my white bread with brown cheese (the last bit I had!).

I went on the scale and I am now 91.2kg.

After lunch a couple of the sprinters came up to me and was asking about advice. I coached them once in September, but since then I’ve been stuck at the office. They wanted some advice on how to run faster, and they seemed gutted that I hadn’t been able to train them. Even though I’ve never been a sprinter I gave them as much advice as I could.

Second part of my workout was 10x1km, and I did well (improved since last weekend). The track-and-field team was done training so all the kids were following me again. It’s usually fine, but at one point a little girl (reached up to my knees) ran straight over my lane, inches from my knees (the kids love to get in my way which becomes annoying after a while), so I considered making the work-out short but then they got chased away by some adults (30-40 kids were bathing in the “pool” by one hurdle).  I finished my session after 10 intervals, stretched and walked to the bus stop.

Shortly after, a bus picked me up, and there was maybe 6-7 passangers, and when the conductor asked for my money I gave him the normal K3, but he insisted that the price was higher than that. I told him in Nyanja that he was lying and he should lower the price, this made the atmosphere in the bus very good. People were laughing and told that it does cost K3. I “argued” with the conductor for a while, but in the end I gave him the extra Kwatcha. A man sitting in front of me asked me about my Nyanja. I told him I had taught myself and I’ve lived here for 6 months now (but actually it’s 4 in Zambia, 2 on holiday in 5 different African countries)

Man: “What is the best about Zambia”
Me: “The people here are very friendly, except from the conductors who takes my money!”

Man: “What do you do here?”
Me: “I’m a sports volunteer, and coach kids about sports”
Man: “OK, that’s great. What’s your name? (In Nyanja)”
Me: “Ruben”
Man: “You don’t have a Zambian name?”
Me: “I do, but I can’t remember…. Do you have a name for me?”
Man: “Mulenga”
Me: “What does that mean (every Zambian name means something)?”
Man: “It’s like artist, but wait, I think βupe is a better name since you came here as a volunteer. It means Gift”

So now my Zambian name is βupe (pronounced something between Vupe and Bupe)
-At this time I was trying to throw out everything I knew in the local language.

Me: “When I see a Zambian girl, I say: Koma uoneka bwino lelo (You look pretty/beautiful today)”
Man: “What is the best about Zambian women?”
Me: “Taco! (bum)”

Man: “What are you going to bring back home from Zambia when you leave?”
Me: “Well, in Norway we are very closed up, and we usually mind our own business, but here you are so open, and you talk to strangers on the bus. I really like that, so I’m hoping to bring that with me home to Norway. The Zambian people are so friendly!”

So to sum up, this was a really cool bus trip, even though I overpaid for the trip, it took longer than normal and it was crowded (it always is). We talked about Zambian food, other African countries (Mozambique is very corrupt) and how great Zambia is.

I walked from town to home and outside our flats some of kids saw me, and they begged me to spin them around, so I did. Thankfully it was only three kids, ‘cause those spins makes me really dizzy…

At home I took a cold bath (thankfully we had enough water!) and relaxed. 

My new app on my phone. Fresvik. 6 degrees and sunny...

I found this on Lusaka Backpackers when I went there for books

Anja had Helen, who is a former volunteer in Zambia, as a guest for almost two weeks

It's corn-season, and I buy these for K2 (2kr) on the streets. yummy

My buddy found a grasshopper. Massive!

My flat in the background. A grasshopper in front

Here is from when I did my core workout at the OYDC. There were about 5-10 other kids behind me

But these kids loved to be taken pictures of

Pose

Lusaka

Busy start of the new year

I arrived Lusaka 3 weeks ago, and I’ve been very busy, unfortunately it’s all in the office though. We are arranging Inter Company Relay in June, which is a big event here in Lusaka, and there are  a lot of preparations for that. So I’ve been in the office working on my laptop. BUT I have also been doing some other work, which will make me a lot more active soon. I got the responsibility to make sure the Kids Athletic Project is going well, so basically I contact those PE Teachers who were at our course in December. I make sure they hold workshops for other PE teachers in their district. I also ask if they want my assistance, so I can come to their district to observe and help out. This is really cool, because it means I can travel around Zambia at the same time as I’m working.

Not every day goes as planned
Not every day goes as planned. Friday I came back to the office after visiting the Norwegian Embassy (for waffles and brown cheese!) around lunchtimes, and then I was asked to come to OYDC. So I did, I went to the stadium there to help out on an event. I didn’t even know we held an event on that day. Well, at least I got to do something outside.
And today I got a call from one of the staff while I was at the gym (at 9 AM) saying they all went to a workshop, so I could go there and pick up the keys. Not that I got any work planned. 

I finished a whole FM season with Sogndal. Won the Premiership (8^th years in a row, baby) and qualified for the group stage in Champions League).

Spare time
Since I came from my holiday I told myself not to eat or drink any sweets, which I haven’t done yet. “Yay for me!” I’m also trying to work out every day, so I can get fit for summer. It’s less than 4 months until my journey home, so I have to be strict if I want to achieve my goals.

This weekend I went to OYDC to run a few laps (work off some of that chocolate I ate in Seychelles) and it was a couple of nice days. The cool thing was that: When I got to the stadium there was no kids at the track, but the moment I started running a bunch of kids came to join me. I ran intervals (which means I ran short and fast), and the kids ran like crazy until they got tired, but I wasn’t left alone, because then a bunch of other kids came and joined me. It went fine as long as they didn’t fell in the middle of my lane (which they liked doing for fun). They also asked me “How are you?!” and “You are sweating, are you ok?!” a lot.

At my “compound/neighbourhood” there are some small kids that I started talking to one day, and one of them is so small I can easily lift him up and spin him around. After I did this they always come running at me when they see me coming home from work, asking me to spin them.

Postcards
During my holiday I sent a lot of postcards, mainly to my 5 year old nephew and family at home. I haven’t sent a card since, but on Saturday I sent a couple of letters, hopefully some of my readers here will receive one of them.

Postcards from Kenya

Met Anja on the plane

The kids love to take pictures with my new phone

In our hallway. Dawn, Dinah and Daniel

Dinah kisses her baby brother

Anja and Marianne practising the handstand in Anjas place

We spent 45 minutes opening a coconut... It was hard work!

Nshima, beans, chicken and bush meat. Usually we only have one of those protein sources, not 3

Fresh guava from the tree

Lime from the tree

These are the kids I mentioned. Spin me! Sping me! they shout

They love Anjas camera as well. Here she us just.... yeah....

He is so small. But with me he can fly

1kg T-Bone steak!

Done!

Double banana. For the price of one! 

Picture from the main street in Lusaka